Red baron
Super Robot Red Baron (スーパーロボット レッドバロン) was a Japanese Tokusatsu show that ran from July 4, 1973 to March 27, 1974. I’ve seen the entire thing but if I’m being honest, I don’t really remember anything at all about it, except that the enemy footsoldiers in the second half of the show were just a bunch of guys running around in silver painted Frankenstein masks. So it was pretty cool.
The robot itself was released in Popy’s Jumbo Machinder line as the second super robot entry after Mazinger Z and the fourth overall. After the first two releases showed prototypes of the jumbos on the box lid, entries 3 (Ultraman Taro) and 4 switched to showing images from the show itself. This wasn’t a change in direction though as the two design choices would be changed back and forth thoughout the run of the line.
Similar to the Mazinger Z jumbo, this early entry in the line has a variation in the box. Where one indicates a 2850 yen price, the other does not. I am inclined to believe that the ones with the prices on them were the earlier ones, but that is just a guess. The image above is from an old saved auction. The specimen review here is pictured below.
The sides of the box advertise some of the separately sold power up attachements.
The top and bottom portion of the box is the same and just features the name of the toyline. Unfortunately, it doesn’t say which character the box is for, which might have been helpful if it were displayed laying down.
As the name of the character would imply, the toy is nearly all a striking red color.
It continues the tradition of having rolling wheels on the feet and at this point in the line, it was 50/50 whether or not the character was going to be wearing a belt. Why does a robot need to wear a belt? Who knows. Probably for the same reason it needs it’s name written across it’s belly, meaning no reason at all.
Red Baron comes with a poseable cannon in each breast. For some reason, I used to think that these fired rockets but they do not. They are just there for decoration. It’s very common to find specimens with these broken.
Even though they do not fire rockets, the toy does include some! 4 rockets are stored on the sides of the head, 2 per side. They are rather unique in the Jumbo Machinder world, having a blue shaft rather than the much more common red. The fins are still white.
Japanese toy collectors tend to love chromed bits and while it’s much more prevalent in the chogokin line, it appears here in the form of bolts on the sides of the limbs. The shinier the chrome, the nicer looking the toy and that usually leads to higher prices.
Red Baron’s fists can be removed and replaced with the separately sold XX and ZZ accessory fists. This was not a surprise to me when I got it. But what did surprise me is that it seems that the upper and lower portions of the legs are also separate pieces. It looks like you could just yank them apart if you wanted to, but I’m not trying it on mine!
The specimen that I have did not come with any paperwork, but I believe it should have at least this catalog included. I’m not sure if there is an instruction sheet.
Red Baron is a great jumbo that stands out on a shelf due to it’s bright primary red. It’s not that rare amongst original Popy jumbos, but getting one boxed, complete and in good condition isn’t easy or cheap. The show, and the jumbo, had a sequel in Mach Baron and that jumbo is probably twice as hard to get as this one and at least twice as expensive.
